CUSTOM

At twelve on New Years Eve, lamenting

By the rules, I'll be on the roof

Calling the names of the dead. They

Have their own customs though,and may

Be in the basement, breaking into the wine.

MAKESHIFT

About midnight the old day's supply of time 

Is like to run out. If the new's not arrived 

We make do with space, hammered thin.

VISITATION

The cat comes by, asking me

To do something about the dead 

Who've taken to appearing

In her corner of the basement

Urging her to avenge them.

VISITING

The café is filled 

With demons who are,

Most of them, off duty. 

Waiters bring them endless

Cups of dark coffee. Max,

My grandfather, nods to me

From his seat in a corner.

He'll not tell his son 

Nor I my father that we

Are comfortable with demons.

READER

At an imaginary university a hypothetical student

Has begun, is deeply into, has decided not to start 

An intensive study of my oeuvre. In an attempt to learn

Something, Sparafucile the assassin has been contacted 

Through a fictional room-mate's ouija board.

The student asks how Sparafucile and I met

And whether he, at least, likes the poems

I write about him. Unfortunately, he's never looked at them;

But dimly remembers reading and not much liking

A long something that involved Verlaine's unborn brothers

HISTORY

On the 22nd of January Parson Woodforde 

Visited friends where he had for dinner 

A Leg of Mutton boiled and Capers,

Some Brawn, a Turkey roasted 

And Mince pies. About four he left

To bury Thos. Mack of North-Tuddenham

Who'd fallen from his horse while in liquor.

Many people were at the funeral; the parson 

Received  a Silk hat band and gloves

And his usual fee of ten shillings, sixpence.

He rode back to his friends' house and had

A late night playing cards at which

He neither won nor lost. On February 4th 

He gave the sixpence to a poor old Man

That plays the dulcimer.

 

PURCHASING

It was almost dark when I reached
The chancery and the great machines
Where they manufacture chance had
Fallen silent. The day's production
Had been sold save for some broken,
Irregular odds and ends -- not enough
For a person or a black cat but perhaps
Sufficient for a party of thin gods
Planning a trip to the Pleasure Quarters.